...And to you, dead and bloated nation of sleepwalkers, so content to drown in your own rancid apathy that your own minds and the minds of your children are being bought and sold on the auction block by swarthy old hogs — oh, set a place for the auctioneer, he'll be coming to dinner tonight. No need to bother, honey, he'll be coming live via satellite direct, right through our brand new motherfuckin' super mega screen Home Monitor System...

Stone Temple Pilots are an American rock band from San Diego, California. Formed in 1986 by Scott Weiland (vocals) and Robert DeLeo (bass), they were later joined by Robert's brother Dean DeLeo (guitar) and Eric Kretz (drums). The band's line-up has remained the same throughout its active years, until February 2013 when Weiland was fired by the other members for unexplained reasons. Weiland claimed this was a joke to boost ticket sales; with the release of "Out of Time," featuring Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington (and the EP High Rise) this seems not to be the case.

They were, and still are, The '90s rock version of Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly, a band that constantly tried to break from the pack of the era's rock titans to establish their own fan base and sound. Writer Chuck Klosterman once claimed he had never met anyone who claimed to be a passionate Stone Temple Pilots fan, yet he had met numerous people who knew who they were.

At any rate, Stone Temple Pilots's first two albums sold 14 million copies combined, cementing their reputation as rock radio mainstays. Scott Weiland, the Face of the Band for all the wrong reasons, cited Jim Morrison and David Bowie as influences in his own singing. The band has split twice, the first time in 1995, when Weiland was arrested and convicted for buying crack cocaine, and in 2002, when Weiland and Dean DeLeo got into a fistfight. They re-formed in 2008, to moderate success.

In November 2015, Chester Bennington amicably parted ways with the band due to his commitments with Linkin Park. However, hopes of a classic reunion were gone when nearly a month later when Scott Weiland died at the age of 48. After months of silence, the band began an online campaign to find a new vocalist.

Purple (1994) featuring: "Vasoline," "Interstate Love Song," "Big Empty," and "Unglued." This album ditched the Heavy Metal sound of their debut and thus improved their critical reception, introducing more Psychedelic Rock elements to their style, and relying less on what was perceived to be formulaic grunge songs. This was the first album where Scott Weiland was credited with his full name, since for the debut he was credited solely as "Weiland." (He also stopped bleaching his hair while at it.)

Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop (1996), featuring: "Big Bang Baby," "Lady Picture Show," and "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart." Probably the band's best example of Word Salad Lyrics. This album featured heavier influences from Psychedelic Rock and even Britpop, making it the first Stone Temple Pilots album to receive very good reviews. However, tensions within the band — caused by Weiland's drug habits — prevented a tour to promote the album and thus it sold less than the others (though 2x platinum in its own right), marking the downhill point in Stone Temple Pilots career success wise.

No. 4 (1999), featuring: "Down" and "Sour Girl." This album returned to the grunge style of Core, making it their first (arguably) metal album since 1992, this time resulting in good reception. The video for "Sour Girl" included a cameo by Sarah Michelle Gellar since Weiland was a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan.

Shangri-La-Dee-Da (2001) featuring: "Days of the Week" and whatever other songs diehard fans like. This album was a flop commercially and critically.

Stone Temple Pilots (2010). The band's comeback album, featuring: "Between the Lines." This is the last Stone Temple Pilots album to feature Scott Weiland, who would die in 2015.

High Rise (EP, 2013). The band's only recorded material with Chester Bennington, featuring "Out of Time."

This band provides examples of:

Addled Addict: Scott Weiland, big-time. It got him fired from Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver and led to lots and lots of negative live reviews of his solo shows, and based on what his ex-wife said in an open letter, the drug usage may have resulted in brain damage.

The Band Minus the Face: The firing of Scott Weiland became this for Stone Temple Pilots. They had averted this during a previous hiatus by performing under the name: Talk Show.

Bowdlerized: The band name, actually. After changing their name from Mighty Joe Young, they briefly went by the moniker: "S hirley T emple's P ussy." Even now, if you type that name into Wikipedia's search engine, the Stone Temple Pilots page comes up.

Broken Record: The chorus of "Art School Girl" is: "I told you five or four times!" repeated over and over.

Changed for the Video: The video version of "Creep" has the verses completely re-sung by Weiland while apparently keeping the original versions of the choruses.

Grunge: Their most cited genre. Regardless what genre one cites, they certainly rode the same zeitgeist as Pearl Jam and company to superstardom, though their critical reception only improved when they added more Psychedelic Rock influences.

Hidden Track: "My Second Album," at the end of Purple, a lounge jazz number which name drops Johnny Mathis. Unusually, it's not even performed by the band, but by Richard Peterson, a Seattle street musician.

Jerk Ass: Scott Weiland was legendary for his burned bridges caused by drug addled idiocy and douchebaggery. There's a good reason why he was fired from every single major band he was in. An open letter from his ex-wife, while not totally condemning him (as she lamented his fall as both a talented artist and loving father), painted him as a distant and unavailable father who largely abandoned the family after he re-married whose apparent refusal to get help for his mental health issues put her through hell.

Last-Name Basis: In Core's liner notes, Scott Weiland was credited solely by his last name.

Misogyny Song: Subverted in the case of "Sex Type Thing." The song uses misogynistic lyrics ironically to show how demented they are. This irony was lost on many people, who originally treated it as an advocacy of date rape, but it's actually a Take That! against rapists, rape apologists, and the general treatment of women as sex objects.

Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness: Their first album is, for the most part, a solid 6 and occasional 7, with its follow-up Purple going down to a 4 or 5. With "Plush" being more a 4-5 and "Interstate Love Song" being either a 3 or 4. Their later material is a bit more varied, with most of the songs from Tiny Music onward around 3, and No. 4 generally at a 4 to 6 range.

"Days of the Week" from Shangri-La-Dee-Da and "Creep" from Core are a 2 or 3. "Pretty Penny" from Purple is a pretty solid 2. "A Song for Sleeping" also from Shangri-La is a 1.

New Sound Album: Famously, this applies to virtually all their albums. Purple, a lighter hard rock album with a lot of synths, is a drastic change from the heavy metal grunge album Core, whereas Tiny Music is 1960's rock album in the vein of The Kinks in all but the decade it was released. No. 4 is generally another grungy metal album in the vein of Core — with some late '90s alt-metal thrown in — but some select songs (such as "Sour Girl") wouldn't be out of place on the latter two.

Weiland: It's about organised religion. About people who tell others what to do and what to believe. They switch off people's minds and control the masses. It gives me a feeling of isolation, when I think about it. Organized religion does not view everyone as equals."

Signature Style: Oddly enough, the band does manage this. With the exception of the heavily grunge Core, all albums — while generally having different sounds — contain elements of psychedelic rock in them.

Super Group: With the firing of Weiland and hiring of Chester Bennington, they essentially became a supergroup of themselves and Linkin Park. Scott, meanwhile, would become the frontman for an honest-to-god one with Velvet Revolved, which consisted of him and two former Guns N' Roses members.

Uncommon Time: "Vasoline" has a 3/4 guitar and bass riff played over a 4/4 drum beat.

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